Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: wcsa@iwsgw.att.com (Willard Smith) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Book of Mormon Witnesses (was Multiple Isaiahs) Message-ID: Date: 23 Oct 90 08:04:19 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Indian Hill West - Naperville, IL Lines: 32 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) writes: >In article wcsa@cbnewsc.att.com writes: >>Perhaps, it might also be useful to point out to Robert >>that E.D. Howe was also an active member of the "anti-Masonic" league in >>Kirtland, Ohio. > >Hi again. Been a while since we last chatted over this marvelous >medium. ;-) > >What is the significance of the above statement concerning Howe? Hi Gene, yes, it has been a long time; probably just before I took my six month "sabbatical" from the net the first of this year. The significance of Howe's anti-masonic activities suggests the motive of the story Robert Firth presented as an alternative version for the discovery of the BoM. As you will recall, Firth claimed that the earliest Mormon versions of the discovery of the BoM involved an old "Spaniard," whose throat had been cut from ear to ear, appearing to JS. Despite a great deal of searching, noone can find anything among materials written by any early Mormons to support this claim. This story can only be found among the writings of an old anti-Mormon, E.D. Howe. Several years ago, the general consensus among historians was that Howe attempted to consolidate anti-Mormon and anti-Masonic activities, and this story was just one of the ways he tried to do it. The cut throat alluded to the anti-Masonic stories of punishment metted out to disobedient Masons. -- Willard C. Smith att!cbnewsc!iwsgw!wcsa wcsa@iwsgw.att.com "It's life, Captain, but not as we know it."